An Islamic State group suicide bomber on Thursday detonated an explosives-packed vest in a mosque inside a Saudi special forces headquarters killing 15 people.

In the latest in a string of IS attacks in the kingdom, the interior ministry said the bomber struck during noon prayers in the city of Abha, in the southern province of Asir near the border with war-strewn Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has sent new military equipment including tanks into Yemen to support loyalists fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels, tribal and military sources said on Thursday.

"Dozens of tanks, armored vehicles and personnel carriers, as well as hundreds of Yemeni soldiers trained in Saudi Arabia, arrived in Yemen overnight" via the Wadia border post in the north of the country, a Yemeni military source told AFP.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to adopt on Friday a draft resolution that would set up a panel to determine who is responsible for deadly chlorine gas attacks in Syria, diplomats said.

A vote at the 15-member council was scheduled after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry won backing from Russia for the measure, in a rare sign of cooperation from the Damascus ally over how to address the conflict in Syria.